The PopMedPortal: Bringing a Population Perspective to Medical Education
In the face of spiraling costs, persistent disparities, and a growing burden of chronic disease, the importance of understanding the population level dimensions of clinical care, and how these dimensions relate to other determinants of the health of populations is critical. Health professions training that is focused solely on disease treatment and individual level care will not prepare a future workforce to meet the challenge of improving , evaluating, and containing the costs of the care of a population overall.
Medical schools and professional organizations across the US are working to develop curricula and educational approaches to equip future health care professionals with the skills needed to participate in new models of health care delivery and payment; interact with public health, and other partners; and critically consume population level research and policy.
The PopMedPortal is an online platform for the sharing content and ideas that further the teaching of population health concepts and skills for future health care professionals and to foster communication and debate about these fundamental topics, specifically:
- To provide novel population health teaching tools with a specific emphasis on the role of the health care system (population medicine) within the larger context of population health.
- To provide a resource library of existing population-specific resources for educators and students at Harvard and beyond.
- To provide a communication forum for faculty, students, and practitioners to engage in debate, pose questions, start conversations, and share perspectives or resources.